


Enjoy the Silence

by flowersforgraves



Series: BTHB [15]
Category: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Knifeplay, Other, Scarification, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 11:19:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16785931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowersforgraves/pseuds/flowersforgraves
Summary: Jedao floats in nothingness, and Kujen makes sure he doesn't forget.





	Enjoy the Silence

**Author's Note:**

> prompt from a discord friend: carved mark + Jedao(/Kujen)
> 
> (card [here](https://flowersforgraves.tumblr.com/post/177921515881/); current list of claimed and filled prompts [here](https://flowersforgraves.tumblr.com/post/180642712026/))

Kujen’s face hovers above him, seemingly disconnected from Kujen himself. It's less disconcerting than it probably should be, but Jedao figures he's just gone numb to most emotions. Besides, keeping a bored, disinterested look on his face draws out a cute frown from Kujen.

The knife hovering above his abdomen also doesn't provoke an appropriate reaction. He frowns, but only because he can't see any parts of Kujen between the knife and the face. “Where is your body?” he asks, and it's a struggle to make his mouth form the words.

Kujen's face crinkles near the corners of his eyes as he smiles down at Jedao. “Stay quiet,” he says instead of answering Jedao's (admittedly stupid) question.

Jedao has a brief moment to wonder what Kujen is going to try, that he's being warned about making noise, but before his brain can properly categorize his options, the knife comes down.

Smooth strokes, done with a steady hand, cut lines into Jedao's chest and stomach. _Nirai,_ he thinks absurdly, feeling the warm sticky blood run down his sides. And, sure enough, when Kujen winks out of Jedao’s perception, and he can convince his hands to move, running his fingers over the fresh wounds reveals that it is indeed a voidmoth adorning his skin.

Somewhere in the distance, he’s half-amused, but it feels like the emotion belongs to someone else. Jedao floats away on a tide of sensory deprivation, and doesn’t remember anything until Kujen appears again.

The voidmoth Kujen had written into his skin has faded almost completely; Kujen’s skill with a knife is undisputed. This time, it’s different -- he starts in a different place, draws different lines, but somehow Jedao knows what this one will be from the first blood. _Ninefox,_ he thinks, and tries to say out loud, _Shuos._ But his voice is gone, stolen by the same nothing that has claimed his emotions.

Next is, of course, the Kel ashhawk. Jedao shuts his eyes for this one, not wanting to see Kujen’s deep concentration. The sweep of the wings over his ribs, the beak over his sternum, he doesn’t remember which came first and it doesn’t really matter. He’s Kujen’s canvas; he doesn’t need to be conscious for this.

When the ashhawk fades it’s the kniferose -- this one Jedao doesn’t understand. Nirai for Kujen’s faction, Shuos for Jedao’s own, Kel for what brought them to this point, but Andan? The puzzle keeps Jedao occupied long enough that he doesn’t realize when Kujen leaves, and when he can’t come up with an answer he just lets it happen.

Kniferose into scrywolf, the eyes of the Rahal sigil tracing his nipples. Jedao ‘sleeps’ through most of it, as far as this hellish prison will allow him to sleep.

Scrywolf to stingray. This one Jedao watches, knowing there are only the Liozh left, after Kujen scribes the Vidona emblem across his torso. Kujen meets his eyes and smiles after he’s finished, before he disappears.

The stingray fades, and Kujen doesn’t return. Jedao wonders why the Liozh aren’t to be imprinted into his flesh as well, and then Kujen appears.

This one isn’t the Liozh faction symbol. This isn’t _any_ faction symbol, and for some reason this is the only thing in -- days? months? weeks? years? that provokes a reaction out of him. It is, in fact, the Deuce of Gears, and this time Kujen is pressing hard enough, cutting deep enough, that this one will stay for a long time.

Jedao shuts his eyes and thinks about his signifier.


End file.
